Episode · The Book Review · 2024-07-18
Books mentioned on 10 Best Books of 2023
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Chain Gang All Stars
Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah is a gripping futuristic dystopian novel that explores institutionalized violence and the American prison-industrial complex through a high-stakes gladiatorial combat program.
Recommended“yes I'm excited to talk about Chang gang allars by naname AJ BR”
Where to get it
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The Fraud
The Fraud by Zadie Smith is a rich historical novel set in Victorian London during the era of Charles Dickens, centering around the famous Tichborne claimant case and themes of complicity and imposture.
Recommended“the fraud by zad Smith is a historical novel it's set in Victorian London so the mid 1800s the era of Charles Dickens”
Where to get it
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Truth & Beauty
Truth & Beauty by Ann Patchett is a 2004 memoir that chronicles the deeply complex and enduring friendship between the author and the late poet and essayist Lucy Grealy.
Discussed“I think of Truth and Beauty by Anne patchet which is about a lost friendship between women”
Where to get it
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Strangers to Ourselves
Strangers to Ourselves by Rachel Aviv is a critically acclaimed exploration of mental illness and personal identity that examines real-life case studies.
Discussed“last year one of our 10 best books of the year was a book called strangers to ourselves by Rachel Aviv which was a series of kind of case studies of mental illness”
Where to get it
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Master Slave Husband Wife
Master Slave Husband Wife by Ilyon Woo is a work of narrative nonfiction by an independent scholar detailing a historic escape.
Recommended“Master Slave husband wife is meticulously researched it's told in novelistic and poetic detail and with sympathy and insight”
Where to get it
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Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom;
Discussed“they joined the Abolitionist speaker circuit and they also told their own story in a book called Running 1,000 miles for Freedom which Ilan wo first encountered decades ago as a graduate student”
Where to get it
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Kairos
Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck is a nuanced and complex age-gap novel by the acclaimed German writer that explores the fraught dynamics of a relationship against the historical backdrop of the collapsing East German regime.
Recommended“the second book also by a non-american author is named chyros it's by a German novelist named Jenny erpenbeck”
Where to get it
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Day
Day by Michael Cunningham is a poignant novel that unfolds across three successive Aprils—2019, 2020, and 2021—capturing the profound shifts in a family's life during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Recommended“Day by Michael Cunningham this is a novel that unfolds in three aprils April 2019 April 2020 and April 2021”
Where to get it
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Big Swiss
Big Swiss is a darkly comic and unconventional novel by Jen Beagin that follows a transcriber for a sex therapist who becomes infatuated with one of the clients.
Recommended“but the other book I wanted to talk about is Big Swiss by Jen Bean”
Where to get it
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Loved and Missed
Loved and Missed is a poignant contemporary novel by Susie Boyt that explores complex family dynamics, grief, and the unconventional bonds of motherhood.
Recommended“I am very excited to talk to you about loved and missed by Susie boy this is something if you like the beasting”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (5) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
“noname alj BR is also the author of Friday black A Story collection that came out I think 5 years ago in 2018”
“and I hav't even rent Skippy dies which is what I think that most people know Paul Murray for”
“she's also written the answers nobody is ever missing and Pew this book to me was just indisputably I would say a hugely ambitious work of fiction”
“she's also written the answers nobody is ever missing and Pew this book to me was just indisputably I would say a hugely ambitious work of fiction”
“she's also written the answers nobody is ever missing and Pew this book to me was just indisputably I would say a hugely ambitious work of fiction”